Good bye, Lenin

Good bye, Lenin is a German tragic comedy film, released internationally in 2003. It can be seen as part of the ostalgie movement.

It is set mainly in the East Berlin of 1989 to 1990. The premise of the film is that Alexander Kerner's mother, Christiane Kerner, an ardent supporter of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany falls into a coma sometime before the fall of the Berlin Wall. After this is set up and she recovers, several months afterwards, the film depicts the attempt by her family to keep the illusion that things are as normal in the GDR. A side-plot is the protagonist's attempt to find his father; who fled East Germany while he was very young. He is discovered with a new family in West Berlin.

Kerner enters into a relapse, and Alexander breaks the news of change gently by a fake news program. Sigmund Jähn, the first German in space, is apparently the new leader of East Germany, and promises to make a better future. It is strongly hinted that Alexander's girlfriend revealed to Kerner the whole truth, including the deception. She dies soon afterwards.